Swiss made

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Rajeev Khandelwal shooting for a song in Bern, Switzerland

Fever, a musical thriller with Rajeev Khandelwal and Gauhar Khan as principal characters was shot entirely in Switzerland. According to Rajeev Jhaveri, the film’s director, the country, made famous by Yash Chopra, is not just about snow capped mountains, but also has a fascinating architectural history. The real Switzerland, according to Jhaveri, lives in the beautiful small towns and villages.

“Fever was shot at 60 locations in 15 towns and cities which included Montreux, Champery, Bern and Zurich. In fact, it is the first film to be shot in Valais, a canton in the French part of Switzerland,” said Jhaveri, a former army personnel who has written a book I Romantic.

As for selecting Switzerland, the director said that the story needed backdrops which were isolated, to add to the mystery and eeriness. Jhaveri who shot there over a period of 40 days said that Switzerland is a very friendly country and though it does not give subsidies to film shoots, there is a lot of infrastructural support that the government provides.

“The best part is that once you get the permission to shoot, you don’t have to pay for shooting in public places like gardens, or on public transport like trains, trams, buses etc. That’s a big thing because we have to pay huge sums elsewhere when shooting at such locations. But hiring shooting equipment is three times more expensive and manpower 10 times more expensive to hire than in India. So it’s best to take manpower from here and hire equipment from Germany which is cheaper! Also shooting after 9 pm is a problem, because the Swiss are very particular that civillian life should not be disturbed in the night,” reveals the director.Fever is being readied for a January 2015 release.